Nearly every year since the 1990s the U.S. Congress has increased the appropriation for the Border Patrol and the whole apparatus of border protection. Yet every year increasing numbers, mostly from the Americas but also from all over, gain entrance by evading the enforcers or forcing an official hearing, which can be delayed more than several years later. As they wait they are free to go anywhere in the country where relatives, friends, or social justice organizations help them gain work, allowing them to get rooted, though always worried about their status. In the Trump and Biden periods the numbers have exceeded 1,000,000 per year. How and why has this unintended development occurred? And what can be done to humanize U.S. immigration policy and welcome the people whose work will be necessary to fuel the economy and transform it towards sustainability? Bill Resnick interviews Larrry Kleinman, one of the co-founders of PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste) who also works with the national Hispanic affairs organization, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM).
Immigration: Image by Simrin, licensed under Creative Commons.
- KBOO